Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
Batman origins stories (or at least early years stories) are a dime a dozen in the world of comics, and we’ve seen him rebooted a million times. However, outside of Year One, there is only one other graphic novel run that is iconic as The Long Halloween. Originally created by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, Batman: The Long Halloween is a slow burn mystery thriller story spread out over 13 issues. In many ways it is a spinoff of the IDEA of Batman: Year One, but takes a more methodical and slow burn approach to the story. It showcases Batman during his very early years, back before Harvey Dent became Two Face, and Joker was just a thorn in his side.

Split into two parts (this being the first film, the 2nd piece of the puzzle coming out in a little over a month on August 10th) The Long Halloween tells the story of Batman (Jensen Ackles), Harvey Dent (Josh Duhammel) and Commissioner Gordon (Billy Burke) tracking down a mysterious killer who is knocking off crime bosses during the holidays. Nicknamed “Holiday”, this killer has been eluding the crime fighters and it’s up to Batman, Dent and Gordon to play fast and loose with the rules (bending them, but never breaking them as Gordon says) in order to find out who the killer is before it’s too late. At first it seems like a case of Occam’s razor. The obvious suspect. However, that suspect soon turns up dead and every stone that Batman unearths leaves him more and more puzzled until even he begins doubting his abilities.

I hesitate to describe much more, or who shows up in the movie as it’s getting heavily into spoiler territory at that point. In many movies it’s not a big deal (really, we all know in John Wick that the puppy dies and John is out for revenge. Not a big plot spoiler), but here the mystery requires us to keep mum about a few things and just let it unfold. Needless to say this is a well crafted mystery, hearkening back to when Batman/Bruce was more of a detective than a brutal heavy hitter in later, more jaded years. It’s well paced, and everything runs so smoothly that I really was surprised that the 86 minutes were up when the credits rolled.

As with all mysteries, the characters are the heart and soul of the enjoyment. Jensen Ackles does a solid job as Bats, but there was this weird thing where you could tell he was trying TOO hard to imitate the gravely Batman voice. Billy Burke and Josh Duhammel really shine though as the other two crime fighters. The two just work smoothly on screen and you can tell the two just fall into character with buttery smooth ease. One thing of note that saddens me about this production (and makes me wonder if she’s voicing Catwoman in the second film) is Naya Rivera, who turned up dead last year in a boating accident. She was great as Catwoman, and while I don’t mean to make light of her death, I really do hope her voice work for the 2nd movie is completed, as she was perfect in the role. A good movie, it does have a few pacing issues where I felt the movie could have done better, most importantly with The Joker. Troy Baker reprises his roll as the 2nd best Joker voice actor ever and while he’s PERFECT as the clown prince of crime, Joker himself feels a bit shoehorned into the picture.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for violence, bloody images, language and some smoking




Video:

The video encode is probably the weakest link of this package due to some typical WB/DCAU problems. The general aesthetics of the show is great. It’s hand drawn line art and is typically pretty well drawn. It DOES have some poor line edges from the drawing, but nothing that would turn me off about the encode. Colors tend to be rather drab and mute throughout as this is a “at night” story most of the time. Bright primaries are still a bit dimmer than they could be (such as the green stacks of money, or the blast of orange or red during a killing spree). But it’s really the banding that drives me nuts on this release. Banding, banding and more banding abound. At first it’s pretty subtle, but as the movie continues on I started noticing it more and more, until finally it was present in just about every scene. Crushed blacks and other minor artifacting can really kill the different scenes, turning blacks and greys muddy, and detail levels getting diminished quite a bit. I’m suspicious that it’s due to the absurdly low bitrate of the film’s encode, which probably could have been averted if Warner had used a double layer disc and beefed up the bitrate. All in all, not a BAAAAD disc, but definitely sub par to their usual good to great previous films in the DCAU.







Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is another experience. It’s brash, loud, and well detailed throughout the 85 minute film, much like previous DCAU films. The film tends to be more low key than others though, acting as a mystery and not as a non stop action film. However, when Batman starts hunting down criminals one by one things cook off quite nicely. Bass is powerful and punchy, with solid impacts for fisticuffs and batmobile chases alike. Dialog is always crisp and cleanly located in the center of the room and surrounds filled with lots of chaos. Like many of the DCAU films it’s not STUNNING, but it is quite an impressive track that should please just about everyone.









Extras:

• DC Showcase – The Losers (New Animated Short) – The legendary rag-tag team of World War II outcasts – Captain Storm, Johnny Cloud, "Mile-a Minute" Jones, rookie Gunner and Sarge – find themselves marooned on an uncharted island in the South Pacific that is completely overrun with dinosaurs! Their would-be ally on this deadly mission, the mysterious and beautiful Fan Long of the Chinese Security Agency, tells them their job is to rescue the scientists that have been sent to study the time/space anomaly. Perhaps… but what is her mission?
• A Sneak Peek at the next DC Universe Movie – An advance look at the next animated film in the popular DC Universe Movies collection, Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two.
• From the DC Vault – Batman: The Animated Series – Christmas With The Joker
• From the DC Vault – Batman: The Animated Series – It's Never Too Late

Final Score: ​

It’s been a while since I’ve seen a two parter film series, and it almost took me by surprise when the credits started rolling, even though I KNEW that the second part was a month or so out still. The film plays the long game, setting us up for what will be the big reveal in the 2nd half of the story in a few months, and does so quite well. It’s a much slower paced mystery that other Batman films, slowly teasing us with characters we all know and love (several of his rogues gallery members make some fun cameos) and it’s an enjoyable little slow burner, even if we already know who the villain is going to end up being (long time Batman fans can see it coming a mile away, even if they’ve never read the infamous graphic novel). Very good film, with some mediocre visual scores. Fun Watch is my personal recommendation.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Jensen Ackles, Josh Duhamel, Naya Rivera, Troy Baker, Billy Burke, Alastair Duncan
Directed by: Chris Palmer
Written by: Jeph Loeb (Graphic Novel), Tim Sheridan (screenplay)
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, French Spanish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, German, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 86 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: June 22nd, 2021

Recommendation: Fun Watch